I remember standing inside the body of the first 787 on the assembly line in May 2008. They told me it would fly later that year — and that was after Boeing had already pushed the schedule back three times.
Regardless, today’s news is exactly what Boeing needed. This is the first plastic plane to put together by one of the two big commerical airline makers (Airbus) and it’s the largest advance in fuel efficiency for large jets in decades. Boeing, I’m sure, is watching their gas tanks closely to see if their predicted fuel efficiency gains of 20% will stand up.
For the travelers among us, let’s hope they do. And it wouldn’t hurt me to make this Forbes magazine article seem a bit more prescient.
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